Review of Larry Crowne Movie - spoiler alert!

You don't often go wrong with Tom Hanks. But I thought the new movie, Larry Crowne, was L-A-M-E.
 And here's why...

It's supposed to be a feel-good recession-based movie about a working man who loses his job and has to find his way in the world in the midst of "tough times." It was completely unrealistic. The very beginning was touching. Larry goes to work in a retail big-box store called U-Mart. The store could represent any big retail chain. He's an excellent employee, has been there for several years, and has made Employee of the Month something like 9 times. He gets fired because he has no college education. At this point I was feeling emotional, because a year and a half ago that was us. Derrick got laid off from his job (the difference being, we knew it was coming, and Larry did not). I related to the feeling of "what do we do now?" and the process of going out looking for a new job, wondering how we're going to pay the bills. But after that point in the movie, everything just went so wonderfully for Larry, that I stopped being able to relate to it. He lived in a VERY nice house, drove a big shiny SUV. He was recently divorced and appeared to have no children. In my opinion, his house was way too nice for someone working at a retail store. He mentioned taking out a $300k loan to pay his ex-wife for her half of the house. That leads me to believe that their home is $600k. I realize that in California, that's probably fairly average, but I don't think you can afford that working at a retail store similar to Target or Home Depot. Sorry, but I just don't buy it. Maybe in California you can, but certainly not here in the midwest. Anyway, he goes to college, (again, I don't know how he can afford college without a job). He does end up foreclosing on his house but it was looked at as more of a victory than a problem. He basically hands over the papers to the banker, and says, there you go, screw you. He then moves into a VERY nice condo (at this point he's working as a cook at a diner).He makes friends with a bunch of young hip college students, aces all his classes, and in the end his teacher falls in love with him. No conflict, really. Yes he lost his job and yes he lost his house, and those were touching moments, but everything else was happy and wonderful. Having lived through a year of unemployment and many years of "tough times," as a working class family, I ended up thinking "Nope, Tom Hanks really doesn't get it. He's so far lost to Hollywood, that he has no idea what it's like for a working class American to lose their job and their house. He can't even make a realistic movie about it."

So, there you go, that's my story and I'm sticking to it. My advice: don't bother, or at least wait for video. Definitely not worth $20 at the theater.